buying a car

Buying a car isn’t an easy thing. Between deciding what we want, finding what we want, realizing maybe our expectations are too high and still not finding something I’m over this whole car shopping thing.

We have 1999 Chevy Monte Carlo. It’s only been owned by 2 people, the original owner and me. It’s causing a lot of problems and I cant get it to pass emissions. So Brandon and I were at a stand still fork in the road to make the decision, do we put more money into this car is it time to get a new one. We have thought about it and prayed and we felt good about going down the get a new car road.

So we started down the road. We said well these are cars we like. I really want a mid size SUV which I feel is a good road to head down because it’d be bigger than a car, give us the space and room we would like, and it could last us a while especially since we are heading down the road of starting a family soon. Brandon did different research and we found a car we REALLY like. But of course money is what holds us back. Oh and this thing called credit. It’s aggravating that everything needs to have credit and when you apply for things there like sorry you don’t have credit or whatever and I just want to shake them. We just got married  5 months ago. If you want us to get credit then provide us with a way so we can get credit. Ok? cool thanks.

We went to our first dealership on Wednesday night and got out rude awakening that what we wanted was out of our range especially since we didn’t want to pay 500 a month. So we wasted our Wednesday night at the dealership. Don’t get me wrong the people are SUPER nice there and so helpful. But come on. We have to live, save, and survive.

All day Thursday we spent the day trying to find other things that maybe in our price range and apply for a loan outside of the dealerships so our interest rates are a lot lower. We find a car. We were so excited because we are like hey this could be it. We apply for a loan. Approved. So we are feeling good about it. We go to the dealership that night and guess who we get to help us out. Mister Jorge. Yes he was Hispanic. Yes he didn’t speak very good English. Brandon’s like even if I focus on what he’s saying I have a VERY hard time understanding him. So tell him what we are interested in and test drive the car. Better than we imagined. The pictures didn’t do justice. Jorge was like ok lets go talk price and everything. Jorge comes back and says with our credit we could only afford a new car. Jorge has us going around in circles for 2 and a half hours and finally I was fed up. He couldn’t answer our questions. He would say well that’s just what they said and not explain why that’s how it was. I’m so frustrated at our experience that I was ready to leave and not look back. Brandon asks to talk with a manager. We speak with a manager and the 5 minutes we spoke to him we understood what the problem was and why they were saying we should have gotten a brand new car. Through the dealership, they have programs for the new cars where the interest rate would be lower. But in all this mess they didn’t even bother to ask if we had a loan outside of them. It was irritating because they didn’t cover all grounds. And they were just shoving us to one car instead of exploring other avenues. IRRITATING.

So we are here today, without a car. Not sure which direction to go now. But praying that something works out.

update: what we've been up to

I don’t enjoy playing catch up when blogging/journaling/talking with a friend but maybe that’ll motivate me to be on top of it all.

We went on our first camping trip as a married couple! Brandon’s family had their ward camp out so we went with them. We took Mimi with us and we had a lot of fun. It got cold quick so that resulted in us going to bed early because I don’t like the cold and poor Mimi was shaking and shivering! The next morning, we had a great breakfast and had a lot of fun hanging out and talking with a lot of different people. Once most the camp cleared out, the toys came out, the guns! I love shooting guns I will not lie. Mimi on the other hand didn’t enjoy the noise too much. Whenever a gun went off, she’d scurry up the front of you and climb on your shoulder. She’d then perch there like she was a parrot. She’s so funny!

Brandon has been working a lot and has been busy with school. He recently did a speech on adoption in which he got at 93%! I love hearing that he’s doing well with school!

We loved listening to conference. What a great weekend it was. I couldn’t believe the missionary age was lowered. My brother Tyler is 17, turning 18 in January, and already is scared to serve a mission. I cried for him. He’s the sweetest kid, but for that big step in his life to come sooner than he hoped scared him. I know that he’ll make the right decision for himself on when to serve and that he’ll be given the strength to make it work.

Just last weekend, we went with Brandon’s family to the dunes! This was my second dune trip and it was a blast! Steve and his son Ryker were there and so was Brandon’s Uncle Jeff. What a fun trip. We got off work early on Friday and headed to the dunes. We got there around 6 and we didn’t hesitate for a second to go out and ride. Saturday we rode and had a blast. I had my first crash. I was following Riley, and he’s a lot more experienced than I am, and got into a zone that was totally out of my comfort zone. So I had the quad roll and it rolled over my leg but lucky for me, I didn’t get seriously hurt. It was so scary though and I went to bed as soon as we got back to camp. Steve had his Razor out there and man is that toy fun! We also took Mimi on this trip and she loved the sand! She was such a goof. Funny story about her and her digging. So Kirk was cooking breakfast one morning on his grill outside of the camper. After he was done cooking, he poured the grease into the sand and buried it. As soon as he was out of sight, Mimi snuck over there and dug up the grease and ate the grease. The funny thing was, when she got caught in the act, her face was covered in sand! It was so great!

We’ve been having a lot of fun lately. We still love being married. We are excited for the holidays coming up also!

Animals

Not quite sure at what point in life I started loving animals to the point that I want a new one every week but I thought it would be fun to let our non existent followers know about our "little" animal family!

First to start with, we have a pug named Mimi. We got Mimi about a week and a half after we made our commitment to be together forever! She was the best decision, well next to marrying my best friend Brandon Kirk!

Then, about a month after, Brandon came home with my very first Tortoise and he was, hands down, the best husband! I have wanted a tortoise since I was probably 15 when I made the decision that I wanted a tortoise because they lived to be extremely old! Since they live to be so extremely old, I wanted to have that to will out to my children.

Random tangent about my hubby, I knew he was the one even more when I saw the excitement of the idea of having something that has been part of the family to give to our children.

Back to my our animals.

Then we got 3 more tortoises, Crush, Squirt, and Lou.

{i have become the tortoise lady}

They are still this tiny. I love them. They are so funny! They climb all over each other and they also sometimes bury each other. 

I truly love animals and having them has taught me patience and love. It's taught me to appreciate my Heavenly Father's creations because he did create them for me, for us, for our life and our future family!

and we are live.

What do most newlywed wives do?

Create a blog, duh.

We have been extremely blessed to have been able to make it through the dating days, our engagement/wedding planning, and first few months of being married. 

You never know how hard it truly is, until you go through it.

We are extremly happy, blessed, and lucky to have the lives we do.

We both have full time jobs.

Brandon and I have the opportunity to go to school.

We have the most beautiful, playful, snotty pug named Mimi and 4 of the coolest tortoise(s) named Elmer, Crush, Squirt, and Lou.

We just were called to teach the 15-18 year olds in our ward, which I, Lexi, think shouldn't be allowed, since I am only 20. BUT, we enjoy our calling already and are praying that we will be able to make a difference to them.

We LOVE living so close to family! We live 9 miles from my family, 4 from Brandon's, 8 miles from Grandpa, Grandma, and Jared and Sarah Wright, and 1 whopping mile from Brandon's aunt and uncle.
We enjoy attending the temple often.
And I love my husband, Brandon Kirk Price.